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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Who carries an avalanche kit in the back country? 19-Sep-2012 At 10:39:04 AM adrian

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I developed my BC ski habits while skiing in the US and Canada - in which case I never went out without the full kit (although digging pits and analysing snowpack is something I rarely bothered with if all signs showed that the conditions matched the avy forecast). I also practised searches on a regular basis.

In Australia, I have only once carried a beacon, when it dumped a lot of reasonably light snow in windy conditions leading to some wind loaded slopes (that I stayed away from for 12 hours till they settled). My experience has been that with a little conservative route planning on the rare day when conditions are dangerous, there's no need for all the gear. You're far more likely to die from sliding down an icy gully into a rock than from being buried (or from a killer rat in one of the alpine huts).
Of course there will be the occassional day when you should be careful about what terrain you ski, but if you've skied back country overseas you already know that.